I knew that there was a lot of merriment at His Holiness the Chiniyia Lama's residence at Bouddha when my father and his friends, known to us then as the 3 Musketeers, visited him. In those days I wondered how going to an incarnate Lama could result in riotous merry-making with large amounts of
chaang the Tibetan-style millet wine being imbibed until the wee ours of the morning. One of the musketeers Maharajkumar Mussorie Shumsher, son of Maharaj Dev Shumsher known to history as the liberal one, was the person who introduced my father to the Chiniya Lama and a steady bevy of western beauties circling the Lama for both the proximity to divinity and free booze. The other musketeer Honourable Lalit Chand the serving Chairman of the Rashtrya Panchayat, the unitary political system King Mahendra created to replace a chaotic democracy, was probably a reluctant member of the troika given the sensitivity his high post warranted.
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| 3rd Chiniya Lama Punya Bajra with western initiates |
Over a century and a half ago Maharajah Jung Bahadur Rana concluded a Peace Treaty with the warring Tibetans at his Thapathali Durbar. It was a glorious moment when Nepal reversed its humiliating defeat at the hands of the Chinese half a century earlier when the defeated Tibetans were rescued by their Chinese overlords and drove the "barbarian" Gurkhalis all the way to Nuwakot! Today a large delegation of fearsome looking Tibetans had arrived to grant back Nepal her trading privileges and vouchsafe security to her traders on the long and arduous route to Lhasa. Jung needed a translator whose command of both languages would not leave any ambiguity on Nepal's demands and possible future prevarication on the part of the Tibetans. He turned to His Holiness the Chiniya Lama.
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| Empress Cixi |
The first Chiniya Lama, Taipo Shing, was a Szechuanese Nyingmapa Buddhist abbot who settled in Boudha after coming to Nepal on a pilgrimage. He was a relative of the powerful Empress Cixi of the Manchu Qing dynasty ruling China. He became the main Lama or Guru at the Boudhanath complex which had by his time acquired the status of an independent city inside a state, much like The Vatican. He was respected and revered by the believers and the non-believers alike. It was to him Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana turned to at the time of this dire need as his courtiers were not proficient enough in Tibetan and Chinese languages.
Jung Bahadur Rana welcomed the Lama in his Thapathali Durbar before the arrival of the Tibetan delegation. He was struck by the wizened visage of this holy man perched on an athletic body and marvelled at how he commanded such devotional following among his flock. Jung Bahadur started ruminating about an alliance with him that went beyond just the translation of texts but to a deeper channel of diplomacy with the Chinese Empire. An idea struck Jung that made him smile to himself at the simplicity of its conception.
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| Batuli Maharani of Jung Bahadur Rana |
Batuli Maharani was one of his concubines, a
bhotini who hailed from Helambu in the foothills of the Himalayas. While on a horseback inspection of the district Jung was struck by her youthful good looks and her well endowed frame and had given her a nickname
Batuli or "Rotund". He had taken her as his wife and she had given him two girls in quick succession. Jung decided to give one of his girls in matrimony to the Chiniya Lama.
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| Jung's daughter married to Chiniya Lama - front left |
The Treaty of Thapathali was signed amidst great fanfare in March, 1856 A.D. It was a singular achievement for Jung Bahadur Rana as it gave Nepal a great advantage in trading with Tibet erasing the unfair terms dictated by a victorious Chinese army during the time of Regent Bahadur Shah. The Chiniya Lama played a great role in mediating with the Tibetans. He was conferred with the Abbotship of Bouddha. The Lama wisely accepted the offer of Jung Bahadur's daughter in marriage. He remembered the tradition of Nepalese monarchs offering their princesses in marriage to Tibetan kings and how these alliances had helped keep a tenuous peace between the neighbours.
Now I have understood why the descendants of the 1st Chiniya Lama welcomed his Rana friends including my father with such gusto. He knew all along the marital relationship between his forebears and Maharajah Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal.
Thank you !!
ReplyDeleteAmazing story Subodh. A part of our Nepali history that many of us did not know existed. I had heard about the Chinya Lamas when I was in school, but I certainly did not know them in this context. It is wonderful that this piece of fascinating and important information is forever archived, thanks to your blog.
ReplyDeleteMama, these snippets are the missing links - keep them coming - enjoying them !
ReplyDeleteI met the then-current Chiniya Lama in 1972. We had tea at his residence in Bouddha. There were rumors that he was involved in the theft and sale of ancient Nepali statues. I did not want to buy any, I wanted to see if it might be true. In our conversation, I asked him about purchasing thankas. He showed me many that he had (not the usual tourist knockoffs). These were not old, they were recently made but made by very gifted Tamang painters. I did purchase three from him. He never asked if I might be interested in statues or older thankas. So I came away with no proof that he was involved in any illegal trade of historic Nepali artifacts.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the artical and i want to know more imformation about chiniya lama and batuli maharani for the purpose of research . Could you help me please which book should i read about that topic ?
ReplyDeletebpruno11@gmail.com
I blog quite often and I seriously thank
ReplyDeleteyou ffor your information. This article hass really peaked my interest.
I will bookmark your site and kee checking for new information about once per week.
I subscribed to your RSS feed too.
Good write up. I come from a local tamang family in Bouddha and my parents tell me that my grandparents revered only the first Chiniya Lama and regarded him as their king mostly because he was kind, learned and generous to the people. However, anyone with greed and thirst for power as sole motivation to lead can never become a good leader. Hence, there have been a lot of misconduct on part of the Chiniya Lamas after him and currently an 11 months protest has been going on in Bouddha targeted at the current Chiniya Lama.
ReplyDeleteWhat’s completely surprising to me is his stubbornness to keep the position regardless of numerous evident criticisms. I thought a holy Lama wants nothing but the betterment of the world.
Its a shame the Chiniya Lamas misused their power although having glorious history and respected ancestors.
Unfortunate that educated people like you don’t see the contribution of the Chiniya lamas in uplifting the people of Boudha by opening school in their land and granting refuge to reincarnate Lama’s fleeing Tibet , I can go on. Just the fact that the residence of Chiniya lama is the dingiest looking while the surrounding small houses look like posh modern buildings is proof that contradicts your claim. If you have the guts you don’t need to be anonymous.
DeleteThere is misuse of power and thirst of everyone in the world but we should not forget the founders and the well wishers who builded the boudha (THE CHINYALAMA’s). Every locals of Boudha should support rather than protest in the first place if chinyalamas havent given their property to so called locals of boudha.
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